Light rain and heavy skies
by MetaLucario
Summary: "He enjoyed leaving the mansion sometimes, whenever that worthless scientist wasn't around, as a kid. The twins were always fun to mess with." The same canonverse, only with another Strife child. But what's the darker twist behind why? (First few ch. A bit light. Rating will go up, so will the gore level)


**A/n: egh format is crap, but Google docs on an iPhone is crap XD. "Oh what's this, Metalucario has an oc? And she's somehow different from the characters and unnaturally intelligent? Must be marysue XD." Not really actually, and Cloud is kinda the same way- it will be explained in detail later-ish. And future chapters (which you should know if you know me) won't all be so fluffy. Not much of a way to add the angsty stuff without ruining the plot planned in my head. Well, *insert disclaimer here* enjoy. **

Pattering filled the hallway, and echoing of light feet bounced off of the walls.

"Hey! Wake up!" Little fists beat in a coffin lid. "Get up you creep, she's giving birth today!" An eager, yet still commanding voice chimed out.

"Go away, these shadows on my heart are weeping for those lost, new birth will only thicken the surrounding darkness of my soul-" deep gravelly tones began.

"Cut the melodrama." The child again. "You're coming."

"Out you monster. He'd notice if I left the confines of my eternal slumbering prison." No arguments from the grave voice would be dissuaded, the child already knew.

"Fine, chaos wielder, enjoy your nightmares. It's not my problem." Stubbornness was sadly an aspect of the child's personality that was not subject to change anytime soon.

"Sephiroth-"

"What?"

"Try not to kill anyone today."

The boy smirked and headed toward the door, but turned his head back to face the metal sarcophagus-

"No promises."

He headed out the door.

He shivered. The only thing on his mind was that every time the silver haired kid waltzed into town, trouble happened. He gazed next door, keeping close tabs on his few months old daughter as the nine year old opened the oaken doors to the house next to his own.

Maybe he should care that the nightmare child was in the Strife household whilst Eleanora was in labor- but he'd never much cared for the woman, or her never home husband who was likely dead by now.

His daughter stirred in discomfort-

"There there, it's right little Tifa, daddy's here."

"I'm here!" He yelled, running up the small stairs into the main room, "do you need boiling water, or a cloth to bite on?" He could hear her cursing her contractions from the room next over. He heard her mutter an affirmative between swears and filled a bucket with water, heating it with materia. He grabbed a few wash cloths and towels as well, dunking them into the water then lifting the bucket off the ground to carry into the bedroom. A frightened midwife stood to the side, absolutely frightened and clueless about how to deliver a child- Sephiroth rolled his eyes, and prepared to take over the delivery.

A few hours later, there he was with a pink lump in his hands, a shock of spikey blonde hair covered the newborn's head as it gazed at him with sorrowful eyes. He wiped it clean of blood and amniotic fluids, even as the contractions continued. He put the baby boy down next to the woman, and proceeded to help deliver its twin. He helped pull it out, then, spreading the newborn's legs.

"A boy and a girl. And look, both have full heads of hair already." Matching blue eyes stared at him as the blonde woman held her son, and he held up the daughter.

"He looks so sad." She said, holding the baby closer. "Those eyes seem lost."

"Children are known to be affected by the weather-" he stated rather clinically. "It's cloudy outside today. That normally causes sour moods."

"Hm, a little stormcloud then?" Mrs Strife thought to herself. "Cloud. That's a cute name, isn't it?"

"Suits him well," the nine year old replied, rocking the girl back and forth. "What about her?" As he asked, she tangled tiny fingers into his hair.

"You choose." The woman replied, ever the enigma. Still, she was a kind lady, and one of few friends he had, the only one here for certain.

He thought about it. He could stick with weather names, to match the brother, but rain and light weren't very attractive sounding names for a girl. And it sounded no better in the native language of Nibelheim. Regna was not very feminine, or pleasant to hear. That's when he remembered the words he'd learned in his recent lessons on the wutaian language, since he was to go there in three years.

"Amé Hikari."

"It's so beautiful," the woman's crystal blues softened at the sight of her daughter. "Amé."

The baby in his arm cooed at her mom, and while Sephiroth had no clue what the sound indicated or meant, he couldn't tear his eyes away from the tiny thing in his arms. The baby yawned, pink tongue no bigger than his pinky finger lolling about its dainty mouth. He couldn't help the sudden smile at the sight. Another fuschia yawn, and the child fell asleep in his arms.

The next year passed with him sneaking over whenever Hojo was out, or asleep, and helping Mrs. Strife with her babies, and suddenly, the babies were toddlers, running around half nude and squealing as they tossed eachother in the mud. He caught the boy in his arms before he could push his sister in again.

"Play nice Cloud." He scolded the little pest.

"No." It was the toddler's favorite word, and the one he used for everything, except when he formed actual sentences.

Amé tackled him from the side- that was more than enough.

"Alright you pills, bath time." He was dirty now too. He'd be more frustrated if they weren't so endearingly baby-like and cute. Two sets of large ice blue eyes gazed at him. Amé automatically jumped up into his arms- she didn't like the dirt. Cloud on the other hand-

"No!" He balled his little hands into tiny pink fists. "No!"

Amé giggled. This was going to be a headache.

"Cloud, you have to bathe." He said it slowly, knowing the boy responded better to gentle goading than direct force.

"No. Shutup. Don't wanna." Damn! He gave up, acting on the urge to forcibly drag the blonde through the dirt to their house. Little tiny fists pounded futilely against his grip, and he lifted the blonde, dropping the sister to walk beside him. If he was anyone else, Cloud kicking his chest might've hurt- as it was, he was more annoyed by trying not to harm the brat than anything.

"I'll go turn the water on!" Amé squealed as she dashed up the stairs three at a time. He finally placated the squirming blonde in his arms, and dashed after her, knowing she'd overflow the tub in her excitement. He reached the bathroom, where the auburn head was trying to reach over the side of the tub to turn the water off now. Locking the door with one hand, he set Cloud on the side of the tub, and helped Amé get the faucet off. Testing the water he gently removed onesies and diapers, then plopped both toddlers in the bubbly water. Turning back to the sink to wash the mud off, he saw the mucky substance crusted on his clothing. Suddenly, a blast of water sprayed him from behind, followed by an eruption of sudden giggling. Green eyes narrowed as the ten year old turned, glaring at the blonde boy beaming at him. When that only made the child giggle more intensely, Sephiroth decided what his retaliation would be in that same instant. He reached down into the tub and grabbed bubble foam, dropped it on the toddler's face and shaped it into a beard. Cloud splashed him again, still giggling. Ame turned and splashed Cloud, but some of the water sloshed out and hit the adolescent _again. _

"You little brat." He dunked the kids under and scrubbed them one at a time, lifting and drying them after. To his surprise, Cloud refused to get down after he'd dried, and insisted on staying put where he was. The boy figured he was clean enough, and wouldn't have to let the child down to get the remainder of the mud fight off of his own shirt (thank whatever deities there were that none got in his hair!) He took a soapy washcloth to the side of the material, and scrubbed at any specks he found, while the blonde sat on his shoulders, clinging to his neck and watching. Amé was trying to help him pinpoint the mud with stubby child fingers, each and every fat digit poking some portion of the dark fabric. He couldn't help the smile that wormed its way across his face at the sight. He continued scrubbing until he was thoroughly satisfied that there was no longer any trace of the filthy substance on his clothing. Grabbing Amé's soft little hand, and making certain a particular blonde was still clinging around his neck, securely enough not to fall, he exited the bathroom, with the toddlers in tow. Now that everyone was cleaned up, he could take them out to get birthday gifts- if the two brats would stay still, and quit squirming around. The fact that Mrs Strife was busying herself if the closest city to Nibleheim with buying cakes and other party things with money he'd stolen from the lab... Well, it was his supposed allowance, but he liked to show off in front of the children... But, since she was gone in another town for the morning and afternoon, he busied himself with entertaining them for the meantime. Sadly, that left him alone with two children who- while unnaturally mature and sentient for being only a year old, were incredibly hyperactive and easily distracted. Not that they wandered off, they didn't really have many friends- only being one, but that didn't make them any less curious. If they weren't so enamored by him simply being there, he was afraid they would've gotten lost, which would have been horrifying, considering the terrible reputation their family seemed to have around town. The annoying part, was that even with the small nature of the town, neither could make up their mind between the two stores that were available. Running a hand through his considerable length of hair, the adolescent decided he was dragging them to the toy shop- their opinions no longer counted, since clearly they hadn't made any yet. He took them to the back aisle, and decided to let them pick out each other's gift. Keeping his gaze carefully over both of them, he made Cloud turn his back on his sister while she tottled around on her stubby legs to find something. Making certain the blonde wasn't trying to sneak an early glance at the item chosen, he helped the redhead wrap it up and hide it in the little hand-basket, then made them swap places. Naturally, Amé wasn't an issue, her taste being something both boys knew well. Of course, it took both of them stacked on top of eachother to reach the small, handcrafted toy on the top shelf. Then he had to make both of them turn around as he payed for the toys, hiding both in the basket again. He purchased some small pastries from a market stall on the street, ignoring the odd glances that followed the trio as they walked back to the toddlers' home. Bursting through the front door, Sephiroth made the two children look away as he hid the basket containing the childrens' gifts. Sighing, he closed the doors leading to the closet slowly, so they wouldn't hear the sound of creaking or slamming wood and try to pinpoint where the gifts were hidden. He calmly walked to the room with both of their beds, as well as a chair and a cheap matress for whenever he stayed over. It helped that sometimes that drowned rat known as his father would disappear for weeks on end to go get new syringes and toxins from Midgar. It gave him time to establish some sort of relationship with this family- whom he felt oddly possessive of. He knew that likely wasn't normal, but he wasn't really normal to begin with. Not many ten year old boys had white-silver hair past their ankles. Or cat's slit pupiled eyes. Besides, he knew he was special, and so were these children, and the woman who bore them. That was why he enjoyed their company he figured, there was no way a family this hated by society was anything resembling normal- and what child could form coherent sentences at age one? He knew he did, but there were explainations for that. These two were a mystery. But more than that, they were _his_ mystery. And so he sat on the chair in between their small beds, with both of them sitting crosslegged on the one with navy blue sheets- Cloud's bed. He opened a random book nearby, oddly enough it was a book of fairytales and myths. And not the dulled down children's versions with the happy endings, and lack of bloodshed. Watching them read the complicated and gory novels this young thrilled him, though he didn't know why. There was a matter of the pride he felt whenever they accomplished difficult tasks- it was more or less brought on by Eleanora telling him how much he'd influenced their quick learning. He'd not known that this was unusual until she'd told him most children don't read until they are three or for years older. And even then, it was usually simple, short sentences. It probably helped that the two toddlers not only wanted to know everything, but also looked up to him as much as they did. Watching their eyes widen with excitement whenever he encouraged them, or praised them for reading a difficult word, or for knowing what algebraic formula was used to compute the average and standard deviation of a set of some kind of data- it pleased him more than he could define. He wondered if it came about simply because he was there, or if it had to do with the times the two of them climbed up into the mountains and come into contact with small amounts of raw mako. But the two of them were brilliant and intelligent to a fault- he was never letting that worthless excuse for a scientist, that pauper that raised him lay a hand on his little students. The only thing the phony would get from touching them was six feet of sword metal through his stomach. And that was if he was feeling generous.

Speaking of which, they had finished reading the particular story, and had at least four more hours before their mom came back from rocket town... Time to introduce them to a certain melodramaniac. As well as a few other people. He put away their book, and extended his arms.

"Come with me, I want to show you two something." To his surprise, they both hopped up and sat still, hugging his neck and sitting in his arms.

"Ok" a cheery femine voice piped at him.

Cloud mumbled something to the same effect.

With a grin,he hefted them up on his shoulders, proceeding through the door he snuck around through the parts of the village that the townsfolk avoided. After a few long minutes, he finally reached the destination. Large gated fencing met his gaze, the imposing ebony entry to his apparent "home." Pushing the jagged black gateway open, he stalked into the mansion, holding the toddlers on his back. He casually flicked the door open, and stormed through the hall knowing the way by heart. Turning the combination into the safe, he opened the large metal door. He set the children down.

"Valentine, get up. We've got guests." He knocked loudly on the sarcophagus.

"This corrupted soul is not worthy of the company of others. Leave me be." The coffin spoke. The twins' eyes widened and both looked at him with shining blue orbs. Amé clambered over to the cold metal.

"Do you want to knock?" He smirked as he asked her, knowing that the former Turk was more likely to answer to someone other than himself. Amé nodded. "Alright." He lifted her up so she could.

Vincent growled at her. With a raised brow, Sephiroth beckoned Cloud to come try. The blonde raised a tentative hand, and knocked on the metal as well- there was a scraping sound in response.

"Persistent. If you truly wish to see this tormented soul, then I will oblige." The gravelly voice drawled. The coffin lid seemingly removed itself with a sound like nails dragging along a chalkboard. The children gaped in awe as a dark figure rose from the confines of the metallic prison, the fluttering of a velvety cloak and rustling of uncut and matted midnight locks before bright crimson eyes locked onto the twins sitting, now crosslegged, on the floor.

"Why is it you've woken me from my punishment? My horror inflicted slumber was not without reason." The dark haired figure questioned.

"What was the reason then?" Asked the Innocent, youthful sounding voice of the resident redhead, as she stared at him with large blue eyes that held a frightening amount of wisdom for one as young as herself. The figure, Vincent called her out on that disconcerting fact.

"Your eerily observant." His eyes flicked to the oldest of the children present. "I see you weren't lying about them, these two are miraculously mature."

"Did you expect anything less than that? I taught them myself." The boy cast his green eyes at the children, both of whom were staring at Vincent with questioning blue eyes. He chuckled. "You may want to answer her question, Valentine."

"well, it's quite a long story." The former Turk replied drily. "You may want to have me tell them another day." And with a sardonic smile, he closed his coffin lid back over himself.


End file.
